IMPORTANT POINTS
(1) Second Appeal under Section 100 of CPC can only be entertained on a substantial question of law – High Court should be satisfied that case involves a substantial question of law, and not a mere question of law.
(2) Appeal – Right of appeal is not automatic – Right of appeal is conferred by Statute.

JUDGMENT

Indira Banerjee, J.

Leave granted.

2. This appeal filed by the Original Plaintiff, Chandrabhan, (since deceased, represented by his legal representatives), is against a final judgment and order dated 11th January 2016 passed by the Aurangabad Bench of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay, allowing Second Appeal No. 45 of 1995 filed by the Respondents, reversing the judgment and order dated 10th November 1994 passed by the Additional District Judge, Beed, in Regular Civil Appeal No.361 of 1984 and dismissing Regular Civil Suit No. 198 of 1979 filed by the Original Plaintiff praying for the relief of declaration of ownership and perpetual injunction in respect of the suit property.

3. Sambhaji, grandfather of the Original Plaintiff, Chandrabhan had two sons, Baliram and Rambhau. Baliram was the elder of the two sons of Sambhaji. The Original Defendant No.1 Yamunabai, was the wife of Baliram.

4. Baliram and Yamunabai (Original Defendant No.1) were childless, Rambhau, younger brother of Baliram however had two sons, Digamber and Chandrabhan (Original Plaintiff).

5. Since Baliram and Yamunabai were childless, Baliram decided to adopt his nephew, Chandrabhan (Original Plaintiff). Chandrabhan (Original Plaintiff) was Baliram’s younger brother Rambhau’s son, as noted above. It is stated that Baliram and Rambhau had mutually agreed that Baliram would adopt Rambhau’s son, Chandrabhan (Original Plaintiff).

6. In the plaint, it was pleaded that the Original Plaintiff, Chandrabhan was adopted by his uncle Baliram, in accordance with the rites and customs of the community, in a ceremony attended by relatives, neighbours and friends. According to the Appellants, the Original Plaintiff Chandrabhan was about 14 years of age at the time of his adoption by his paternal uncle Baliram, who became his adoptive father.

7. Baliram died intestate, in 1951, about six months after he adopted the Original Plaintiff. After the death of his adoptive father Baliram, the Original Plaintiff Chandrabhan shifted to a nearby village, from where he managed the properties left by Baliram. The Original Defendant No.2 Champabai is the first wife of the Original Plaintiff, Chandrabhan. In 1979, the Original Defendant No. 1, Yamunabai, wife of Baliram purportedly gifted the suit properties to the Original Defendant No. 2 Champabai, wife of the Original Plaintiff.

8. On 8th May 1979, the Original Plaintiff filed Regular Civil Suit No. 198 of 1979, in the Court of the Civil Judge, Senior Division, at Beed, Maharashtra against the Original Defendant No.1 being Yamunabai, the wife of Baliram and the Original Defendant No.2 being Champabai, his own first wife praying for declaration of ownership of the suit properties, perpetual injunction and other reliefs. The Original Defendants filed their written statements in the suit contending that the Original Plaintiff had not been adopted by Baliram.

9. The Respondent Nos. 1 to 4 being the Original Defendant Nos. 3 to 6 in the suit, filed their written statement in the suit supporting the stand of the Original Defendant Nos. 1 and 2.

10. The Original Plaintiff examined himself as well as five other witnesses, including Prabhu Yogiraj Swami, the priest who conducted the rituals at the time of adoption, to prove that he had been adopted by Baliram. The Original Plaintiff also examined Shahurao Tulsiram Dhas to prove that he had the possession and cultivation of the suit lands. The Respondents, on the other hand, examined Original Defendant No.2, Champabai and several others to establish that the Original Plaintiff had not been legally and/or validly adopted by Baliram.

11. The Civil Judge, Junior Division, Beed, Maharashtra being the Trial Court dismissed the Regular Civil Suit No. 198 of 1979, by a judgment and order dated 31st July 1984.

12. On 5th November 1984, the Original Plaintiff filed an appeal being Regular Civil Appeal No.361 of 1984 in the Court of the Additional District Judge, Beed, Maharashtra being the First Appellat